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Glite Dictionary
pitch blackness

pitch blackness

4.4
Complete darkness with no light at all
  • noun
  • /pɪtʃ blæk.nəs/
translation icon : oscuridad total
  • When the lights went out, we were surrounded by pitch blackness and couldn't see anything.

You jump out into this pitch blackness and my risers got stuck under my left leg.

Examples

  • The questions floated through the pitch blackness like feathers, brushing against Harry's consciousness, then drifting away.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • You jump out into this pitch blackness and my risers got stuck under my left leg.

    Shawn Ryan Show

  • PITCH BLACKNESS

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The cave was filled with pitch blackness, making it impossible to find our way without a flashlight.

  • As she closed her eyes, she was enveloped in pitch blackness, a complete absence of light.

Synonyms

darkness
vspitch blackness
534 1.0

A time or place with almost no light

specifies total absence rather than partial or low light
blackness
vspitch blackness
31 3.4

A place with no light at all

presents the same idea as a descriptive compound phrase
total darkness
vspitch blackness
8 3.5

A situation with no light at all

shares identical meaning but uses alternate common wording
complete darkness
vspitch blackness
4 2.5

A state with no light at all

phrases the same total lack using a different word order
pitch-blackness
vspitch blackness
4.6

Complete darkness with no light at all

is the same meaning but written without a hyphen
lightlessness
vspitch blackness
8.8

Complete darkness so you cannot see anything

expresses the same idea but uses a compound descriptive phrase

Antonyms

brightness
41 1.0

How much light something gives or how close it looks to white

illumination
12 4.1

The amount of light in a place or on a surface

How Dark

pitch blackness
4.4
blackness
9 1.3
darkness
534 1.0
gloom
20 3.6

Surface Forms

pitch blackness singular
pitch blacknesses plural

Morphology

pitch + blackness

The meaning is directly derivable from the constituents: 'pitch' evokes a very dark, tar-like substance and 'blackness' denotes the condition of darkness, so together they signal an extreme or total darkness. This intensifier + noun composition follows a clear, productive pattern (as in 'pitch-black'), making the phrase predictable to a B1 learner who knows both words.

Etymology

The phrase pitch blackness comes from pitch, a thick, very dark tar used on old ships and roofs. Because pitch is almost perfectly black, pitch blackness creates a strong image of 'complete darkness'.